Pitkanen out for Canes' game against Pens

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By Ryan Craig

When the Carolina Hurricanes host the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night, they will be without the services of defenseman Joni Pitkanen.

Pitkanen, who is still nursing a sore knee after having surgery, did not skate Tuesday morning during the team's practice, and was ruled out of tomorrow night's game by head coach Paul Maurice.

"He’s still in some pain – we have to wait until he feels better," Maurice said. "He’s skating on his own, but he hasn’t come in yet and felt a marked improvement – we’ll wait until that happens. I don’t expect him tomorrow.”

"It’s been tested out – we know what it is," Maurice continued, "it’s just a matter of him feeling strong enough and pain free enough to play. There's always a window on these injuries, a short and longer-term, and it’s taken longer than he would like or we would like, but we expect it to improve."

Maurice also said that despite his missing practice Tuesday, Eric Staal is expected to play against the Pens.

"Bad attitude," Maurice joked. "No - we just want to make sure he feels 100%. He plays so much for us - he was a little tight in practice yesterday, so we figured we'd give him another day and he'll be ready to go. We expect him to play."

Copyright 2009 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

howdiditgettothisOct 14, 2009

for those of you wanting to herd him back -- have you even watched hockey? can't tell by your comments.

hockey is completely physical 100% of the time they are on the ice, and we will need him healthy later in the season.

NO reason to bring him back now.

like i tell my kids, encourage don't discourage.........

aoakley336Oct 14, 2009

View quoted thread

For $3.5 million, he should suck it up! Last few games it was tightness from the cold, now it hurts? Looks like we got a wimp on the payroll! All my negative feelings are slowly coming back.

— Posted by vance203

You're right, we're paying him $3.5 million. That's why he's not in the lineup. Its stupid to risk injury to a guy who is just coming off a surgery this early in the season. We need Joni down the stretch, its much better to play it cautiously for now.

CaniacTarHeel1983Oct 14, 2009

Great, the injury curse is back. but i personally think joni is a little over paid.

kenshiOct 14, 2009

The Canes need to step up on defense and it hasn't been Joni's fault. Hopefully he gets well soon, in the meantime the other guys need to pick it up.

packandcanesfanOct 14, 2009

Not a Joni fan AT ALL. He is too lazy and lets the puck out of the zone way too often for my taste. Don't won't him injured but hopefully somebody else can step up and do the job that he should have been doing.

StunGunnOct 14, 2009

View quoted thread

For $3.5 million, he should suck it up! Last few games it was tightness from the cold, now it hurts? Looks like we got a wimp on the payroll! All my negative feelings are slowly coming back.

— Posted by vance203

Pitkanen is not a wimp; I think it's more a case of us not being told the truth the first time around. There's a difference between &quot;tightness&quot; and &quot;injury&quot;. To make things worse, Staal was kept out of practice because of &quot;tightness&quot;. Hmmmmm. Hope his &quot;tightness&quot; doesn't progress to &quot;injury&quot; as well.

BIGDAWGShouseOct 13, 2009

the injury bug is back

vance203Oct 13, 2009

For $3.5 million, he should suck it up! Last few games it was tightness from the cold, now it hurts? Looks like we got a wimp on the payroll! All my negative feelings are slowly coming back.

StunGunnOct 13, 2009

This makes me a little nervous - the injury is lingering on longer and longer. Now Maurice is calling it an injury, something he didn't do at first. Hope Joni gets better soon - the Canes need him